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Picture: Debbie Cooper

A man and woman walking in ankle-deep water on a beach near Port Shepstone drowned when the sand gave way and they were washed out to sea, the NSRI said on Sunday.

Police in KwaZulu-Natal have opened inquest dockets after the couple, believed to be husband and wife, drowned at the Umzimkhulu River mouth.

Mark Harlen, Shelly Beach station commander of the National Sea Rescue Institute, said the NSRI, the police and Medivac ambulance service joined SA Lifesaving lifeguards at the scene when word of the drownings spread.

According to witnesses, the water in which the man and woman were walking around noon on Saturday suddenly became deeper, as if the sand had given way underneath them, Harlen said in a statement.

Harlen said it appeared that neither of the two could swim and both disappeared under water.

As the search for the two continued, the body of the 27-year-old man washed up on the beach. Search and Rescue unit policemen recovered the body and paramedics declared him dead at the scene.

“Later, the body of the woman was located by officers in a police helicopter.

“The helicopter guided policemen on the beach and our sea rescue craft to the location of the body in the surf-line about 10m offshore. The woman’s body was recovered by policemen on the beach and she was then also declared dead by paramedics.”

Sources said the man had been identified as a well-known taxi driver from the Eastern Cape. - The Mercury, Sapa